After the Battle
by Raela
Summary: This takes place during the movie. What if Spider-Man went to MJ's apartment after the final battle with the Goblin?


AFTER THE BATTLE  
  
I do not own any of the Spider-Man characters here. They belong to Marvel and Stan Lee. This is purely out of fun.  
  
Rated PG because of a little bit of violence and a little bit of sexual content.  
  
Mary Jane said good night to the cop who drove her home and headed up to her apartment. She was both physically and emotionally tired, but her mind was too busy recounting the past few hours at the bridge. Hanging on for dear life like that, she thought there was a chance that she would die and her thoughts turned to Peter's face which confused her. She thought she might be thinking about Spider-Man's or even Harry's face, but no, it was Peter's that was before her. His comforting words, his dazzling smile; it was in the uppermost of her thoughts. Now, back at the apartment, where the Goblin kidnapped her, she still thought about him, but she also thought about Spider-Man. Did he survive the Goblin's attack? She learned that the police had headed over to Roosevelt Island where they were last seen, but there had been no sign of either of them. There were definitely signs that they had been there: broken walls, stray webbing, even bits of blood. And nobody had seen either of them leave.  
Rubbing her forehead, she sat down on the bed, and then noticed that her answering machine was blinking with one message. Puzzled, she pressed the button to hear the message.  
"MJ, it's Peter," came Peter's voice. "You there? Hello? You there? Well, I-I'm just calling to check up on you. Will you call me when you get in, okay? All right, well, don't -- don't go up any dark alleys."  
Curious as to what he meant by that, she heard a click, meaning that the phone had been answered, and then heard Peter's hopeful voice say, "Hello?"  
She shivered when she heard the Goblin's laughter. "Can Spider-Man come out to play?" he mocked.  
Expecting to hear a flat-out denial or a question about what the heck he was talking about, she was surprised to hear him demand where she was. Then the phone line went dead. Before MJ could ponder this mystery, she heard a thump on the balcony, then a familiar voice saying, "You have a knack for getting in trouble."  
MJ breathed a sigh of relief and headed for the balcony. She saw Spider-Man on the balcony rail in the shadows. "Oh, thank God, you're all right. I -- we weren't sure whether you were alive or not."  
"Barely," he mumbled, and then held up a hand. "Please. Stay right there. I'm a little bit bruised..."  
MJ obeyed. "How bruised are you?"  
He chuckled. "Well, no broken bones, so it can't be that bad. I might've cracked a rib or two, maybe sprained something, but luckily that's just the worst of it."  
MJ grimaced. "Was the battle... that hard?"  
"The toughest one I ever fought. And not one I want to go through again."  
"Wh-Where's the Goblin now?"  
"I can't tell you. But I can tell you that... you won't be bothered by him anymore."  
"That's nice to hear. Does that go for you, too?"  
"Yeah."  
For a few seconds, they were silent until Spider-Man said, "Listen, I'm sorry for disturbing you. I just wanted to make sure you got home okay."  
"You're not disturbing me and I'm glad you stopped by. At least, I now have one less worry in my head."  
"Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine."  
Spider-Man, however, immediately noticed the 'lie' tone in her voice. "You know, I -- I don't have anywhere else to be... right now. I'd be happy to stick around."  
MJ smiled at him. "Thanks, but you're hurt. You need to go home and rest. Wherever your home is."  
He jumped down and leaned against the rail, his face and part of his body still in the shadows. "I heal fast," he commented.  
"If you say so."  
"Look, MJ, I want to be your friend. So, if you have a problem, I want you to know I'm here for you."  
"Thanks." She sat down her bed. "It's just that... despite what you told me about the Goblin, you know, not bothering me anymore, I -- I'm still scared. I keep thinking that he's going to crash through my window like he did before."  
"I hear ya. I've had nightmares about the guy before this... 'incident' happened. It'll probably be days, maybe weeks, before either of us will get a good night's sleep without dreaming about him."  
"Boy, that's reassuring," she replied sarcastically.  
Spider-Man laughed. "Sorry. I was trying to sound comforting and it came out wrong."  
MJ laughed, too. "It's okay."  
She was quiet after that, so Spider-Man asked, "Was there something else?"  
"Yeah, but you're not the one who I want to talk to. No offense."  
"None taken."  
"But there is one thing that I think I should mention. I don't think now's the right time to talk about it, but as long as you are here..."  
"Better now than later, I guess."  
MJ smiled. "Yeah." She stood up and licked her lips nervously. "Spider-Man, I really like you. A lot. I mean, you are so amazing, the way you risk your life to help others."  
"I'm sensing a 'but' here."  
MJ chuckled nervously. "Well, you're right on the money there. I'll admit there was a time when I would have given anything to have you right here beside me, but... there's someone else."  
"Yeah?"  
"And until now, I've never realize how much he meant to me. I'm sorry, Spider-Man."  
"It's all right. Whoever he is, I hope he realizes how lucky he is to have you."  
"I hope so, too."  
"Good night, MJ."  
"Good night, Peter."  
Spider-Man froze before he leapt off and MJ stuttered at her mistake. "Sorry, I meant Spider-Man."  
Instead of laughing it off as he would have done, he just turned to her. "Is... Peter that someone else?"  
She lowered her head. "Yeah," she said, so softly that Peter barely heard her. "You're great, Spider-Man, but Peter... he makes me feel special. Like I'm more than I ever thought I could be. He treats me like a person, not a trophy. And I never knew this until now, but... I think I'm in love with him."  
Spider-Man gasped. He couldn't believe it. The words he had been longing to hear had finally been said. Before he started to have second thoughts, he said, "MJ, close your eyes." When she gave him a puzzled look, he added, "Please."  
She obeyed and listened to the footsteps in her apartment, telling her that Spider-Man was moving around. She heard her kitchen faucet turned on, and then water splashing, then the faucet turned off. There were more footsteps before she could feel his breathing close to her.  
"Open them," he instructed.  
She slowly did so and found herself shocked to be staring in the face of the one she had come to love. He had some bruises and cuts on his face, but it was definitely Peter.  
"Peter?" she whispered, not daring to believe it.  
"Yeah," he confirmed. With a quick peck on the lips, he added, "I love you, too, MJ. I've always had."  
With so many emotions swirling around her, all she could do was cup Peter's cheek and kiss him passionately. Peter eagerly responded and for a moment, time stood still. MJ wasn't surprised that she was enjoying this second kiss more than the first one, even though kissing him when he was upside-down was interesting. No, this time, she liked it more because she knew that it was Peter behind the mask and that she loved him.  
When the kiss finally ended, Peter just held MJ as she breathed in his scent, carefully stroking him, apologizing whenever she felt him wince. At the fifth wince, she insisted that he lie down on her bed and take the costume off so she could tend to his wounds.  
Peter blushed. "Uh, MJ, I don't have anything on... under it."  
She shrugged. "Just wrap a towel around your waist or something. I don't care if you can heal fast or not, those wounds should be seen to."  
Smiling, Peter obeyed when she walked into the bathroom to find the first aid kit and fill up a container of hot water with a washcloth. He crawled under the covers and tossed the bloodied costume on the floor as MJ carried the supplies in. She set it down on the table first, and then rinsed the water out of the washcloth before gently dabbing it on Peter's face, then his torso and legs. It was hard work for her; the muscles on his body, though not overly muscled like a bodybuilder, were definitely ripped and she had a hard time keeping her eyes away from his chest. To distract herself, she asked him how this happened.  
"Huh?" he said. As MJ had been staring at him, he had been staring at her, noticing the way her hair fell down around her shoulders and her eyes narrowed in concentration. She had shrugged the robe off, allowing him a nice view of her feminine body. When she leaned over, he could see the tips of her breasts, making him swallow at the sight.  
"This whole Spider-Man criterion," she said. "I mean, how do you do all those incredible, well, spider-like things?"  
He chuckled. "It's a long story."  
"I'm not going anywhere."  
"So I see. Um, do you remember, back in our senior year, in high school, when we went on that field trip to that uh, spider research facility?"  
"I haven't forgotten. It was when you took my picture by those (what did she call them?), 'genetically-enhanced super spiders.'  
Peter smiled and blushed. "Yeah, I was in love with you even then."  
She looked at him with surprise. "Really? That long?"  
"Well, actually, longer than that."  
"How much longer?"  
"Since the fourth grade."  
For a minute, the two of them did nothing, but stare in each other's eyes. "Wow," she said. "I had no idea."  
"You weren't supposed to."  
She gave a sad smile. "It's funny... how fate works out. I spent my entire life trying to find someone who would love me, and all this time, he was right next door."  
"At least, you know now."  
"Yeah." She gave him a small kiss. "And I'm not going to waste any more time. Starting now, I want to know everything about you. So, you were saying about that field trip..."  
"Right. Um, well, remember when we were looking at those super spiders and you said that there were only 14?" She nodded. "Well, I don't think the researchers were 'working on it.' I think it got out." He held up his right hand to show her the bite that had disappeared through time. "It bit me. Right here."  
"My God," she whispered. "And then what happened?"  
"Well, next thing I knew, I didn't need glasses anymore, I was stronger and faster, I had webbing shooting out of my wrists, I could stick to nearly any surface, and I had also gained some sort of sixth sense of danger."  
"The spider sense," she remarked. "That's what the guide called it, wasn't it? So, it really exists?"  
"Well, let's just say it got me out of a few scrapes now and then." He paused. "And it kept me from getting killed tonight."  
She held his hand. "I'm so glad you weren't."  
He smiled sadly. "I wish I could've kept the Goblin from getting killed, too."  
Her eyes widened despite the fact that she half-suspected he was dead. Squeezing his hand, she asked, "You knew who he really was?"  
"Yeah." He seemed to want to leave it at that, but MJ pressured him on.  
"Tiger," she said. "You've helped me deal with my problems. Now let me help you with yours. Tell me what happened."  
For a while, she thought he wouldn't say anything, but the turmoil of the night seemed to have finally got to him and he blurted everything out. His determination to see this battle through so that she couldn't be hurt anymore by him, his shock when he found out the Green Goblin was none other than his best friend's father, all this was said. MJ was shocked, too, at the Goblin's real identity, but she didn't let it show. Peter needed her support right now and that was what she was going to give.  
When he finished speaking, ending with how he brought the body, armor- less, to the mansion, MJ gently held him as both of their memories of the past few hours came flooding back. No words were said, but none were needed. They just held each other, reaching for the support a person would take from their lover.  
"Thanks, MJ," Peter said.  
MJ smiled, then snuggled next to him before the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms, dreaming not of a nightmare that they had expected, but of each other. Two soul mates have finally been reunited.  
  
THE END 


End file.
